


i've been walking blind in the dark (never seen the sun)

by taggedasbi



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Alyssa is an optometrist and Emma has never had glasses, F/F, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-11-28 22:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20973746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taggedasbi/pseuds/taggedasbi
Summary: Emma is 24 and has never been to the optometrist.And Alyssa Greene is the first person she sees in absolute clarity.





	i've been walking blind in the dark (never seen the sun)

Emma sat in the waiting room, nervously squinting at the magazine sitting in her lap. She couldn’t see a damn thing that was on the page, which is why she was here after all. She’d never had good eyesight, she knew that. But, according to her grandmother, apparently everything _ wasn’t _meant to be blurry all the time. All through high school her teachers told her she needed glasses, but her parents weren’t exactly keen on spending money on Emma. When she was kicked out and went to live with her grandmother, Emma had just simply not mentioned her failing eyes to Betsy. Unfortunately, her grandmother had sharp eyes that eventually figured out that Emma wasn’t just clumsy after a few years. So she made Emma make her first appointment at the age of twenty-four with the optometrist.

God, she hated making appointments. 

She shuffled through the pages with her fingers, trying to decipher the headlines and failing miserably. Maybe she would have gotten better marks in her final year if she’d had proper glasses and not the awful five-dollar pair she’d managed to buy from the supermarket without alerting her grandmother. 

“Emma Nolan?” 

The voice rang out from somewhere to Emma’s left, and she hurriedly placed the magazine on the coffee table and tried to look as confident as she could while she walked towards the voice. Emma had developed a pretty good ear while her eyesight declined in high school, and she’d heard plenty of voices before. The one that had just said her name, the woman she was walking towards, had a voice that sounded damn near _ musical _to Emma. Somehow it shook up the nerves in her chest a little more as she got closer to the blurry figure in the waiting room. 

“Emma? Great, just follow me.”

Musical didn’t come close to describing how it sounded.

Emma followed the woman down the short hallway and into a brightly lit room with a couple of chairs that Emma might have guessed were green. She was also fairly certain her optometrist had dark brown hair. It looked as though it might have a gentle curl to it, or maybe that’s just how fuzzy Emma’s vision was. 

“My name is Alyssa, and I’ll be conducting your eye test today. What brings you in today?”

“Uh, well, I can’t really see. I mean, I can _ see, _but everything is blurry and it has been for a while.”

There was a thoughtful silence before Alyssa spoke again, and Emma began fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

“How long has your vision been blurry for?”

“I guess I was about thirteen the first time I noticed it?”

Alyssa’s pen stopped moving and she tilted her head up at Emma.

“Thirteen? And how old are you now?”

“Uh, twenty-four.”

The gasp from across the desk sounded like it surprised even Alyssa, who tried to cover it with a polite cough. If Emma didn’t feel so guilty right now, she might have smiled. 

“Wow, okay. So I think it’s best we start with a vision exam. Do you see the chart hung on the wall behind me? It’s a lettered Snellen chart, and I want you to start at the top left and read them out to me.”

Emma saw a light shine on the card and the thick black lines of the letters come into focus. The letters at the top were almost offensively large. Sure, she had blurry vision, but she wasn’t that bad.

“E...F...P...I…” Alyssa made a note with her pen. Emma tried not to let it distract her.

“O...Z...I…” The pen scribbled a note again, and more frequently as she made her way down the list. When she finished, she turned back to Alyssa who was staring at her notes very intently.

“Emma… has your vision been like this for eleven years?” 

Emma bit her lip and nodded. Obviously, she hadn’t done as well as she’d thought. 

“I’m gonna have to do a few more tests, but the good news is we can prescribe you glasses to help you see more clearly.” 

Emma tried to hear any hard tones in Alyssa’s voice, but all she heard was someone who was overly caring and determined to help her. The guilt gnawed at her insides.

“Oh, cool. Also, I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“Just… I know I should have come in sooner, I just couldn’t when I was living with my parents, and after high school it just seemed unimportant.”

A moment of silence washed over them both, but Emma saw Alyssa’s face brighten with a smile. She would’ve had to have blind not to see the way it lit up her face. 

“You haven’t done anything wrong, believe me. I’m not a dentist, so please don’t feel guilty about this. I’ll look after you from here on.”

As Alyssa left her chair, Emma wondered whether Alyssa’s cheeks had flushed red or if her vision was just _ that bad _.

* * *

Emma rested the back of her head against the headrest of the chair where Alyssa had been examining her, checking for symptoms of eye disease, and testing the strength of some lenses. A moment later, she entered the room with a pair of glasses in her hand. 

Alyssa stood in front of Emma and without a word she carefully placed the glasses on the bridge of Emma’s nose. Emma didn’t mean to gasp, but it happened before she could control it.

Alyssa’s face came into perfect focus. If her voice was musical, her face had to be poetic. Emma had been right about the gentle curls that framed Alyssa’s face, but now she could appreciate just how her nose sloped and her eyes shone and her dimple played at the corner of her lips that were right in front of hers…

“God, you’re gorgeous.”

It was out of her mouth before she could register she was even thinking it. It was another few stunned seconds while she watched Alyssa’s cheeks colour before Emma fully realised what she had just said.

“I mean, shit, um, I think the glasses work.”

Alyssa’s laugh sounded just as magical as her voice did, and even as the heat rose to her own cheeks Emma knew she’d give up the glasses and perfect vision forever if she could hear that laugh again. 

“Welcome to the world of 20/20 vision, Emma Nolan. Now, I haven’t been an optometrist for very long, but I can tell you that your reaction to your new glasses is my favourite so far.”

Emma felt the heat settle into her cheeks and thought it might never leave.

“There’s a final test before you’re free to go enjoy your new glasses. Come back over to the desk for me.”

Emma followed, silently willing herself to not embarrass herself further in front of her very beautiful, ultra attractive optometrist. Alyssa scribbled a note on a new page, tore it from the bindings of the book, and held it up at shoulder height.

“317-555… Wait-”

“It’s my number, and I need to make sure you can read it before you leave here.”

Alyssa handed Emma the slip of paper, and all she could do is stare at the numbers in front of her. Alyssa smirked and stood, moving to the door before opening it for Emma. Still speechless, Emma hurried out of her chair and moved out into the hallway. Before Alyssa closed the door, she spoke a final time.

“I finish up here at 5. I’ll see you around.” At that, Alyssa tapped the side of Emma’s new lenses and closed the door. 

When Emma walked into the wall on her way out to the waiting room, it wasn’t because she couldn’t see it.  


**Author's Note:**

> I needed a creative outlet so I wrote this and I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Title from 'Keep Me Crazy' by Sheppard


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